Gender ID bill - Gender Critical To Do List

[BetsyM00]

There seems to be quite a few of us with concerns about the proposed bill and who want to take some steps to voice opposition to it. I've pulled together some pertinent info and compiled a To Do List from threads on here, and elsewhere.

Please join in with any other suggestions.

Background

It all started with a private member’s bill by Maria Miller to make gender identity a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 in place of gender reassignment. No further action was taken on this bill due to the dissolving of Parliament for the general election in June 2017.
services.parliament.uk/bills/2016-17/genderidentityprotectedcharacteristic.html

Here is a list of all the publications associated with the bill, including all 209 written submissions from various organisations and individuals. There is some good info in some of them:
www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/women-and-equalities-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/transgender-equality/publications/

House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee Transgender Equality Report
publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmwomeq/390/390.pdf

Current Legislation:

Gender Recognition Act 2004
which states applicants for a Gender Recognition Certificate are required to prove that they:

• are 18 years old or more;
• have, or have had, a documented mental-health diagnosis of gender dysphoria (by producing a statement by a doctor - usually a psychiatrist or sexual-health specialist - or a psychologist on the GRP’s list of experts.);
• are not married (unless their spouse has given consent to changing the marriage from different-sex to same-sex or vice versa, as appropriate);
• are not in a civil partnership;
• have lived fully for the last two years in their acquired gender (by producing a selection of items of documentary evidence showing change of name and gender, such as a passport, rent book, wages slip or benefits documentation); and
• intend to live permanently in their acquired gender until death.

See also www.gov.uk/apply-gender-recognition-certificate/overview Note: this is a paper exercise only - no surgery is required to obtain a GRC and a GRC is not required to obtain surgery. Current fee for an application is £140 with means tested help available.

Equality Act 2010
which states “A person has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment if the person is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of reassigning the person's sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex.”
Statutory Code of Practice
Note: a reference to a person who has this protected characteristic is a reference to a transsexual person - transgender is NOT mentioned in the legislation.

Proposed Changes

Government proposals to streamline and de-medicalise the process for changing gender:
www.gov.uk/government/news/new-action-to-promote-lgbt-equality

It has cross party support:
Labour, LibDems, Green, SNP all agree www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/05/31/general-election-lgbt-manifesto-guide-this-is-what-all-the-parties-have-pledged-on-lgbt-rights/
Jeremy Corbyn www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2017/07/jeremy-corbyn-right-trans-people-should-be-allowed-self-identify-their-gender

These proposals impact detrimentally on women and children in terms of privacy, dignity, safety, fairness, accurate research/records, free speech, and increased use of puberty blockers/cross-sex-hormones by children.

The following threads have loads of relevant info:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/2877199-Gender-Critical-Reference-Thread?watched=1&msgid=70312619#70312619
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/2907672-the-gender-critical-manifesto - which led to this wiki: gendercritical.pbworks.com/w/page/117351513/FrontPage

See also:
Critique of House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee Transgender inquiry: womenanalysingpolicyonwomen.wordpress.com/
gendertrender.wordpress.com/
fairplayforwomen.com/
4thwavenow.com/
www.transgendertrend.com/
The oft quoted Swedish which states transwomen retain male patterns of criminality: journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0016885#s3
Supported by California inmates study which also found that 20.5% of the trans inmates were registered sex offenders, compared with 14.6% of the non-trans inmates:
www.researchgate.net/publication/233070618_Where_the_Margins_Meet_A_Demographic_Assessment_of_Transgender_Inmates_in_Men%27s_Prisons

Female groups, organisations or individual views are not been consulted on the proposed changes. Our concerns are not being heard. So….

To Do List

Part of the consultation process is the lgbt survey:
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/national-lgbt-survey
Straight women not being asked for their opinion but note that according to Stonewall, transgender “is an inclusive, umbrella term used to describe the diversity of gender identity and expression for all people who do not conform to common ideas of gender roles.”

www.stonewall.org.uk/sites/default/files/transgender_booklet_2004.pdf
I’m a gender critical woman and do not conform to, or agree with, gender roles or sex stereotypes - so apparently this makes me transgender, and legitimately able to complete the survey, as can non-binary and agender women.

Write to your MP:
MP contact details: www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/
Check MP’s voting record: www.theyworkforyou.com/
Sample letters: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/2879137-Open-Letters-to-Our-MPs-on-the-Gender-Identity-Bill
www.criticalsisters.co.uk/campaign-resources/
MP sample letter 1
MP sample letter 2
MP sample letter 3
MP sample letter 4
MP sample letter 5
MP sample letter 6
MP sample letter 7
MP sample letter 8
Letter to Jeremy Corbyn has loads of good info, but is a rather long (sorry, don’t know who to credit for this):
drive.google.com/open?id=1PwqOKQdJlCrUJMhyV03nVDQOV9W8lLP84fnrILK66zM

Times interview with Maria Miller covers issues quite well:
Behind paywall: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/89e2bd02-73bd-11e7-83f1-667fddf1d78f
Full text here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/2993425-Maria-Miller-interviewed-by-Janice-Turner-full-text

Also Guardian article on mixed-sex hospital wards: www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/30/mixed-sexed-wards-endanger-and-humiliate-women?CMP=share_btn_tw

Reporting back to this thread with any responses would be grand! Also worth noting some people have had a better response from approaching their MP in person.

Scotland
Complete survey on proposal to introduce gender-neutral toilets in Scottish schools:
consult.scotland.gov.uk/school-infrastructure/updating-of-the-school-premises/
This has some good info on the effects:
www.transgendertrend.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Impact-of-the-Loss-Single-Sex-Spaces-on-Girls.doc

Nicola Sturgeon has pledged to reform gender recognition law with details supposed to be out by end of summer 2017 - so well worth contacting MSPs as well.

Complain to [email protected] about Public Health England - Women’s Voices survey
surveys.phe.org.uk/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=8l409n7M#
It asks “What sex were you assigned at birth?” and “How do you describe your gender identity?”

Complete NHS England‘s survey on Gender Identity Services for Adults
www.engage.england.nhs.uk/survey/gender-identity-services-for-adults/

Sign open letter in support of Martha Harvey:
www.feministcurrent.com/2017/07/18/open-letter-support-martha-harvey/

Join twitter and support fellow gender critical posters. Abusive replies may occur from transactivists, so perhaps use an alias and a throwaway email.

Who to follow on twitter: @ukmayday, @exposingtrans, @CenteringWomen, @KIngalaSmith, @criticalsisters, @MeghanEMurphy, @glosswitch, @sarahditum, @bindelj, @4thWaveNow, @fairplaywomen, @PeachyoghurtYT, @streetvoiceuk, @TerrorizerMir, @MagdalenBerns (check out Magdalen’s fantastic videos on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/MagdalenBerns)
Blocked list of ‘terfs’ - which is a good indication that they are worth following!: blocktogether.org/show-blocks/obradPTOJX7keukhwgHFwkKUTj_afTt5uEMo-HU-?page=1

Support Janice Turner, the journalist who wrote the Times article above: twitter.com/VictoriaPeckham/status/892340997744730112

@ukmayday is looking for females willing to make short video/take a photo holding a card (card can be in front of your face) stating why sex segregated space is important to you #femalevoices. Anyone happy to help, PM @hear_woman on twitter.

Similar campaign - pose with your own 'Transactivism is Misogyny' sign.
www.sisterhoodsolidarity.com/participate/

Women’s lobby group within the Labour party:
twitter.com/CriticalSisters/status/891269879856345088

Express your gender critical opinions underneath any relevant online media articles and in real life as much as possible.

There is a Facebook group set up by mumsnetters in order to tackle this in an organised way - if you wish to join, PM Thisisouting or SmileEachDay. It's a secret group so you will have to be vetted (via posting history).

Sorry , that was a huge amount of posting! Just thought it would be helpful to get most of the info in one place.

Thank you!

That is all soooooo helpful! What a massive effort on your part BetsyM00 Thank you x

BetsyM00 Thank you.

Thanks Betsymoo really useful. Have done survey.

Thank you Betsy. That's really helpful. Have done the survey

This is exactly the kind of thing I joined mn for, thanks.

BetsyM00

Thank you so much to you and all the other women who are tackling this in such a structured way.

The pulling together all the different women has been masterful. (Mistressful?)

It will be effective.

The added bonus is it is turning women onto feminism, everywhere.

Oh, I do hope so Datun. If there were no handmaidens and we were all more or less united, we could move mountains!

Just a further note on the 'secret' Facebook group. Please do get in touch with the Mumsnetters named above if you would like to join, the more the merrier. It's only a closed group to protect the anonymity of members and stop any transactivists trolling.

For anyone who doesn't have Facebook, or just doesn't want to join, I will update this thread with any petitions/campaigns/any other actions that arise from the group, so more women here can get involved.

I'm already on it. I got in on the ground floor.

Can someone tell me how to PM?
Thanks for this thread OP.

this is textbook radicalisation in live slow-motion. good luck with your campaign it seems very important to all twelve of you.

HarryBiscuit

PM BetsyM00 or SmileEachDay for details.

exWifebeginsat40

Could you articulate exactly what your objection is?

The Fawcett Society are consulting on Sex discrimination law. It's technically linked to Brexit and it's past the last meeting date but they're asking the right questions and are still accepting written submissions.

Thanks pencils

exWifebefinsat40, superb PA post!

Thank you for taking the time and effort to post this, Betsy.
I had been wondering what to do about it other than ranting, so thank you for giving me the tools to voice my concerns to those who have the power to stop this bill from going through

Thanks so much.

Lots of great information.

exwife I have completed the survey and written to my mp. I wasn't going to bother posting until I read your idiotic post. I imagine there's lots of other women who have done the same.

Thank you!

exWifebeginsat40
Gosh yes its so important to abolish single sex trauma therapy groups isnt it How dare men get penile cancer and not want to talk about it in front of a woman.

Thanks BetsyM00.